Saikyo Romance
by pyrat-xo
Summary: "A BL webcomic/novel about the ace quarterbacks of the Saikyo University Wizards and other college league football teams. This work does not depict real situations and is entirely fan-made." (Eyeshield 21 isn't Karin's only project.)
1. Year One

_Punsplanation time. Saikyo Romance (最強ロマンス lit. 'Strongest Romance') is a pun on Saikyo University (最京大学 'Great Capital University') which is a pun on 'saikyo' meaning strongest (which was a play on how some of the the monstrous aces of many named teams seem to have gone on to Saikyo University for college). Punception._

* * *

Sanzo spots her over the top of his easel his second year of college, a familiar fall of gorgeous blonde hair in a neat braid spilling over her shoulder, and he shifts his seat closer. Basic Figure Drawing is his longest class of his semester, clocking in at three hours long, most of it spent staring at a pile of fruit or skinny naked strangers. She catches his eye, face lighting up in recognition, and waves- they had met formally his third year of high school, at the Christmas Bowl Shinryuuji had only come close to winning.

"Karin-chan," Sanzo says politely as he settles down next to her, both their fingers already blackened from charcoal in the first few minutes of class, "you're in this class?"

"Yes," she chirps, ducking her head in a quick, informal bow, "it's good to see you again! I'm glad there's someone I know..."

Naturally, they talk about football. More specifically, they talk about their old teams, and where everyone is now. She updates him on the Teikoku aces and Agon; he won't stop gushing about Unsui and the Fires. One time after class, she invites him over to her apartment for dinner and they spend the rest of the night plowing through her three shelves of doujinshi.

Karin attends all of Enma and Saikyo's games for her series, and so does Sanzo (after all, Ikkyu's with the Wizards and Unsui leads the underclassmen Fires) so they start going together, nestled in the front row within easy earshot of the bench.

They're more concerned with the goings-on off the field, because Karin knows these players and their styles mid-game from QB research at Teikoku, but she's had less exposure to them in their everyday lives. A manga about a perennial championship team is never as interesting as one about underdogs, and her only off-field experience is with the undisputed emperor of Japanese high school American football.

They start pointing out little things, listening carefully to the way the players address each other and the short interactions between them. For research.

It starts off innocent- a quick, vitriolic exchange between Hiruma and Agon followed by a perfectly-executed play; long, satisfied looks after particularly close calls. Agon drinking from Hiruma's water bottle whenever his own runs dry (he used to drink out of Unsui-kun's all the time, Sanzo would say), Agon clapping Ikkyu wordlessly on the shoulder after a hard catch, Ikkyu trotting halfway across the field with a bottle of water to make sure his oldest teammate stays hydrated (_Unsui-kun asked Ikkyu-kun to look after Agon-kun at Saikyo- isn't that cute?_), Ikkyu offering his share of honey lemon to Hiruma because he is a _ sweetheart _, which Sanzo makes sure to remind Karin at every opportunity.

When Saikyo's clashed in practice matches against Ohjo and Enma, it quickly becomes apparent that there are a few players with strong, lasting bonds from high school that even being on different college teams couldn't drive a wedge between.

Ikkyu running over to the Fires' bench before every match to greet Unsui, Agon staring across the field, eyes locked on Ohjo's Shin Seijuro or Enma's Kobayakawa Sena, mouth splitting into a crooked, predatory grin whenever they step onto the field, Hiruma and Musashi walking off the gridiron together at the end of every game they play against each other.

The only hand Agon ever shakes after a match is Unsui's; they clasp, then pull each other in for a quick chest bump and Agon walks away while Unsui goes down the Wizards lineup. Ikkyu always throws in a comment, hangs on and has a short conversation, which the older Kongo twin most definitely enjoys, he's always smiling now. Hiruma and Sena grinning hard whenever they're up, Kurita sweeping Hiruma into crushing, ecstatic hugs, Unsui and Hiruma, as the quarterbacks, unfailingly proper and respectful.

(Pre-game Hiruma and post-game Hiruma seem to be two entirely different people; one is a ferociously dedicated trash-talker and the other is the epitome of a good sport, but Sanzo would be lying if he said he didn't like that about him.)

Once, when Hiruma and Agon are headed back to the bench and Hiruma gets there first, he picks up a water bottle and tosses it over his shoulder without even looking; Agon snatches it out of the air with practiced ease and Sanzo hears Karin sigh, a dreamy smile on her face.

That's when Sanzo knows for sure, and he squeezes her wrist, leans over so neither of Saikyo's ace quarterbacks can hear and he says, "Karin-chan, they look really good together, don't you think?"

* * *

They start discussing it over e-mail. Sanzo sends a few early drafts of stories he's written in his spare time, and Karin gushes over them in her replies and sends back short comics. It's fun, it's great, but after a while his inbox fills up because he doesn't have the heart to delete any of it and it's disorganized; they're all over the place.

Karin pitches the idea of a website, where they can compile and organize as they gather more material. Sanzo's taking a course in programming and he's pretty good at it; Karin already has a layout in mind and she sketches it out for him. They register a site.

Sanzo writes up two or three more short stories and gets to work on coding Karin's design into reality. There's a part of him that wants to remain anonymous, on the off-chance Agon ever finds the site, so anything that involves him, he moves to a separate, hidden area (you have to click a very specific panel on a very specific page to even access it) and it fills up quickly. Their material goes up in out-of-sequence chunks, but a storyline starts to emerge so they organize the site sequentially.

The main story, which follows real life, goes up as writing interspersed with Karin's gorgeous illustrations; sidestories happen as short pieces of fiction or Karin's sketched fancomics, slowly fleshing out the history of the characters involved.

It's a small, private thing. The only hits are theirs and Sanzo's made sure to keep the site off any search engines (not that anyone would actually be looking for fancomics of college-league football players in their spare time, but just in case.)

* * *

Sanzo invites her to lunch to observe the Nagas. It feels a little like betrayal, calling Unsui and Ikkyu out to let his partner in crime observe their habits, but Sanzo's pretty sure Ikkyu appreciates it and Unsui and Karin have a lot of lively Quarterback Conversation.

They run into Agon because Unsui invites them all to the Kongo apartment afterwards, to wait around until dinner and afterwards to talk about football and college life (things Unsui likes to talk about: football and college life). Ikkyu spends an inordinate amount of time there anyway- Unsui tutors him in English (and math and history and science when they have the time though he doesn't need nearly as much help in those subjects), which is coincidentally the reason he agreed to lunch that day. Agon really only raises an eyebrow at Sanzo's presence and he hangs around to talk to Karin, all charming smiles and cheerful brotherly banter.

Ikkyu looks at him like he's grown a new head but Unsui learned a while back to take it in stride. He's ridden the train with Agon dozens of times; it's almost a rarity to get through it _without_ running into a girl his brother's been involved with and the drastic change in Agon every single time caught him off guard initially, but he grew used to (and resigned to) it pretty quickly.

Karin seems to be eating up the good brother routine so Agon hypes it even more: leaning on Unsui's shoulders, rubbing his head, pulling him into rough, affectionate headlocks. She and Sanzo exchange looks whenever Agon looks in another direction ("so this must be what Agon-kun and Unsui-kun get up to on their own"), and Ikkyu frequently has to tug on Unsui's sleeve to bring his attention away from his twin and back to the questions at hand.

Unsui gets a text a few minutes before ten o'clock, which kicks off an exchange that Sanzo and Karin both engrave with meticulous detail in their minds. "Agon," he says after checking and answering the message, "Hiruma says to remind you that you have practice tomorrow morning."

"Aah?! Why the fuck didn't he just tell me himself then?"

"You blocked his number last week," Unsui says matter-of-factly as he reaches over Ikkyu's shoulder and taps a derivative on his math problem, prompting him to start over from that point, "and he says he doesn't want to use one of his spares."

Agon whips his phone out of his pocket, fiddles with it for a few seconds and immediately dials his teammate, practically snarling into the receiver as he ducks into his bedroom.

_Jackpot,_ Sanzo mouths at her.

* * *

"Unsui-san," Karin whispers in Sanzo's ear as they leave, "has a really cute smile."

"I know," he answers, clutching her arm and smiling cheerfully. "And Karin-chan, you know, Agon-kun looks great with Hiruma-kun, but... there's a lot of potential with twins, too."

Her face turns red but Karin nods fervently. "It's kind of taboo, but... I was thinking about it during the Fires vs. Wizards game, too."

"And you know, Ikkyu-kun is really cute when he tries to get Unsui-kun's attention like that!"

She thinks back to an incident just before they left, Ikkyu packing his things and checking his watch, face falling slightly at the time. And then Unsui setting a blanket and a pillow onto the couch without needing to be asked. "Do you think it's _that kind_ of relationship? He's staying overnight, isn't he?"

"You know, when we were at Shinryuuji, Agon-kun really only ever acknowledged Ikkyu-kun and Unsui-kun, but it wasn't anything like that."

"Maybe both," Karin offers. "Or Unsui-san and Hosokawa-kun..."

"No way, Agon-kun is definitely the possessive type." There's a long silence where Karin's turning that over in her mind, crafting a tangled prism of relationships, but Sanzo interrupts it with a conspiratorial and gleefully wicked murmur, "But if you ask me, he's the _greedy_ type, too."

The image of both Kongo twins, Ikkyu and Hiruma sandwiched between them, flashes through her mind (she's an artist; the twins' symmetry appeals to her almost as much as their differences do) and Sanzo laughs lightly in her ear, like a devil on her shoulder. "Sanzo-san," she says firmly, already plotting the layout and composition of a two-page spread, "you need to write this."

* * *

Hiruma's doing research on former Teikoku aces that aren't on his team when he finds it. He wouldn't have paid much attention to Koizumi Karin because she isn't playing football anymore at her art college, but there's a weird blip on his radar where apparently she's in close contact with Shinryuuji's Sanzo, and Sanzo's still playing. She might be leaking plays from her old school or techniques or she might be helping him, so he's searching his networks for some collaboration and stumbles headfirst into Saikyo Romance.

The wordplay is so obvious it isn't even clever, and Hiruma's trying to withhold judgment until he finishes the first arc, but when Sai-Agon hands Sai-him an umbrella during a wicked thunderstorm on his way to Shinjuku after practice to meet up with the most recent girl(s) of the week, Hiruma has to close the tab before his eyebrows disappear into his hairline.

He laughs so hard he cries, so hard his chest is tight from the lack of air and he's pulling in deep, desperate breaths when he finally manages to gain control of himself again, nearly ten minutes later. The first thing he does is call Koizumi, whose immediate and extreme reaction to his discovery means that thus far, it's a private little thing. He tells her that he's already saved all of it, so there's no point in taking her site down. She makes him promise not to show Agon, because she's heard _stories_ about him, though he's always been sweet to her when they talk (read: when she was collecting reference material.)

He wouldn't anyway- this sort of thing is too hilarious to let Agon ruin. _Better than blackmail._

The next day, Hiruma grins through practice (and snaps pictures, which he forwards to Karin), which makes Agon even less cooperative than usual (which is a million times funnier than usual) and he calls up Kurita and Musashi for dinner. He drops hints all night long that they should keep an eye on Koizumi Karin, which only Musashi really gets, but he likes to keep Kurita up to date anyway.

A day later, Hiruma receives a text from Musashi that says only「found it」, then one ten minutes later that says,「sent it to kurita」 and lastly, a few hours after that (presumably once they've started reading),「he says to be careful. i agree.」

Not too long after, when he's in the club room reviewing strategy with Mamori, she glances over his shoulder while he's catching up on Saikyo Romance and taps him on the shoulder. "I didn't know you liked this kind of thing," she mutters, as though seeing a whole new side of him, "Isn't that Agon-kun?"

Hiruma silently sends her the link in an e-mail, which she makes a note to check out when she gets back to a computer.

She texts him later that night with 「oh」.

* * *

Unsui's on his morning run when he nearly bowls over Suzuna sometime after the sun's just peeked over the horizon. She's on her rollerblades, phone out, when she turns the corner and his cuts aren't so fast that he can avoid a collision. Unsui catches her by the arm before she lands on her butt, and she nearly drags him down with her anyway but they regain their balance with a bit of shuffling.

Suzuna, imperturbable as ever, dusts her hands off on her bike shorts and snaps off a cheeky salute. "Morning!"

"You should be careful," he chides gently, but at her repentant look, smiles instead. "It's pretty early."

"Yaa, I don't usually come this way, but I felt like it today. You always run around here, Uu-nii?"

A nod. "A few kilos before I have to head to class, usually."

It's not often Suzuna gets Unsui to herself- he's a private person, not to mention busy, and of the Fires, only one of them is really a mystery to her so she chirps, "Let's go get breakfast, Uu-nii. Since we're both here."

"I'm not sure about-"

"It's five km away," she interrupts with a catlike grin.

"You know," Unsui concedes, "that does sound good."

They get breakfast at a bakery that happens to be close to Deimon- Unsui orders coffee and an egg sandwich while Suzuna sticks with some sort of apple pastry and juice. She checks her phone early on, curiously, and then turns her attention back to him once they've settled down at a table. "Where's Agonne?"

"I ran into him on my way out," Unsui answers around his paper coffee cup, corners of his mouth quirked into an exasperated smile, "he's sleeping off a hangover."

"When did you get up, Uu-nii?"

"Around five."

"Does Agonne always get home this late?"

"Sometimes."

Suzuna's phone interrupts her interrogation, and she reads the message before turning her attention back to Unsui. "Sorry, Mamo-nee just told me to check something out. I'm doing it later though."

Unsui drains the last of his coffee and flashes her a small smile. "It's fine. Are you done?"

"Yeah!" She prods the last bit of pastry crust, drapes her arms over the table and lets her chin drop onto her forearms, turning her best pair of puppy-eyes on the quarterback. "But now I'm really tired. Can we take the train to class from here, Uu-nii?"

"Aah, or..."

"Or?"

"I'm heading home first, so you can stay a while and we'll go together, if it's not too weird." He quickly clarifies, "I need a shower, and we have some time before classes start. If you're tired, I can pull you."

"Yaa, that's fine too!"

They're pretty close to the apartment; Suzuna hangs onto his hoodie (she forgot her rope) and talks to his back.

"Hey, Uu-nii, you really like football a lot, right?"

She doesn't get a reply- but Unsui's head ducks a little more than usual on his next step so she assumes that's a yes and he's too busy running to talk.

"But Agonne's more important than football, right?"

Another silent affirmation.

"Do you think Sena's like that too?"

It's almost unnoticeable but Unsui slows down (the rhythm of sidewalk sections reverberating up through her rollerblades has changed) when he says, "I can't speak for him, Suzuna. Besides, Agon's my brother. It's different."

"But what do you _think_, Uu-nii?"

"I think he loves football, and he cares deeply about you too." Unsui's reply is par for the course when he's faced with a difficult question; tangible and ultimately meaningful, but slippery and formless. "To what extent, you'll have to ask him."

"You're no help at all," she sighs.

"Ah, sorry. I'll try to be more helpful next time."

She regards the back of his head for another long second- and decides that Unsui's never let her down before, and now that Mamori's busier than ever at Saikyo, she could really use another confidante (You-nii's not the only one who can calculate his options in a split second). "I really like him, Uu-nii."

"He'd be happy to hear that."

Suzuna brakes and jerks back on Unsui's hood, choking him with the collar as she practically yells, "But you can't tell him!"

"I won't!" Unsui reaches up, tugging back on his sweatshirt to give himself enough slack to breath, "I just meant that if you chose to tell him... I'm sure he'd be happy to hear it."

* * *

Agon walks into their kitchen and he encounters a girl he didn't personally bring back the night before reading something intently on her phone with a glass of orange juice in front of her, so the first thing he does is turn around and kick the bathroom door until Unsui opens it, still sopping wet, a towel clutched around his hip.

"Hey, Unko, you finally did it?" Before he has a chance to respond, Agon grinds his elbow on the top of Unsui's head and pushes it down, smirking. "Aah? I didn't know you fucking had it in you, Unko."

"Agon, what are you even talking about?"

"Morning, Agonne," Suzuna chirps over a cup of tea. "Looking good, Uu-nii!"

Unsui ducks back into the bathroom, shutting the door in Agon's face. He's gotten bolder since they started college, flagrantly ignoring his younger twin sometimes and outright challenging him others (and it's great, Agon loves it when he's not busy being pissed off about it) and this time Agon hears the lock click so he can't even corner Unsui in the shower unless he decides to go through all the effort of picking it.

"Taki Suzuna, right?" Agon doesn't bother with the nice act. One, because this girl has zero T&A even if she's got a cute face. Two, she looks like a little kid. And three, he immediately has the vague impression that on some level, she's the same kind of person he is.

She answers with a sly sort of smile, "Agonne remembered my name? That's great!"

"What'd you do to Unko?"

"I just ran into him on my way to breakfast." Suzuna sets down her phone, after making sure that the screen's been properly dimmed and locked. "Our first classes start at the same time in the same building so we're gonna leave together. Uu-nii's never late."

Agon's eyes narrow behind the tinted lenses of his Juliets but he smirks and then dives into the paper bag on the table instead of continuing the conversation, turning up a cup of black coffee and a cutlet sandwich, which he digs into with relish. On the mornings Unsui doesn't cook, he usually at least comes back with takeout for breakfast- the benefits of twin telepathy.

Suzuna's observing him intently through her bangs (_don't think he can't see, trash_) but Agon has a hangover, the dull throb radiating from the back of his skull and hammering his temples, so he wordlessly polishes off his food and starts on his coffee as Unsui emerges from the bathroom, fully changed and looking refreshed after his usual run and shower.

"Ready to go?" he asks, picking his backpack up and slinging it over his shoulder.

Suzuna slides her seat back, polishes off her juice, hops to her feet and rinses the empty cup out at the sink. "Yep!" she says as she expertly slips her rollerblades back on and ducks out the door.

"Yo, Unko," Agon calls just before Unsui follows her, "what're we having for dinner?"

Unsui looks over his shoulder, takes a mental inventory of the fridge and shuts the door as he answers, "Leftovers."

* * *

Suzuna has followed SR since only a few weeks into its inception. She enjoys it, mostly, but Hiruma and Agon's relationship isn't so interesting to her and she has a hard time watching the de facto captain of the Enma Fires fall short whenever he tries to win Hiruma over (no one who's willing to drag her after him on his morning runs could be _this_ unlucky in love).

It's not that he's not as _good_ as Agon, and he's certainly much nicer, but his relationship with Hiruma almost feels forced; they're more like mutually respectful acquaintances than good friends or potential lovers, without the same sparks as HiruAgon.

She nearly stops reading.

That is, until Suzuna follows her nose and stumbles across a well-hidden section devoted entirely to Unsui and Sanzo (the UnZo, or SanSui section). Unsui, whose overtures in Hiruma's direction are rebuffed or foiled time and time again, finally falls for Sanzo- the one teammate who has always seen his worth, always liked him for himself, always thought of him as someone special. She blazes through the entire section in a matter of hours, then hunts down Unsui's phone during practice to check his text messages (it's not _her_ fault that Uu-nii always leaves it out in the open and never complains when people scroll through it).

Sanzo's number pops up more than any others. Unsui doesn't receive many texts but the ones that he does, he dutifully replies to, most of them updates about the team, some about Agon, many of them also asking after his former teammate's health, his grades, his classes. He's painfully earnest and restrained even in text, which meshes well with San-chan's slightly less grounded nature, in her expert opinion.

Besides, his loyalty in exchange for Sanzo's four years of dedication?

It's great.

Suzuna sends the link to the entire cheerleading team. Sena has to beg her to stop talking about how much of a gentleman Unsui is to Sanzo, and he also learns that she's really not a bad artist at all but _why did it have to be fanart of Unsui-san and Sanzo-san cuddling_.

She also gets her hands on Sanzo's number, texts him「＼(＾▽＾)／ rooting for sanchan!」and a picture of Unsui's schedule so he can plan their dates more easily.

For Uu-nii's sake, of course. He's so focused on football, it's a little unhealthy. Sena learns over the course of a week that he has exactly zero say in anything Suzuna decides to do.

* * *

Unsui doesn't know all the cheerleaders personally, but the football and cheer practices overlap by about half an hour, so he does pick up snippets of conversation. Snippets of conversation involving Agon and Hiruma, something about the two of them getting into fights, which he hasn't heard about, but Agon rarely talks to him about anything involving his school life anyway. Though if he's hearing about Saikyo all the way from Enma, it's probably something he should look into.

He texts Hiruma, which is in many ways safer than asking Agon, but also asking to learn more than he'd ever wanted to.

「everything okay? hearing about problems between you and agon.」

「check your email」

Hiruma forwards the text to Karin, because clearly the Unsui-Hiruma-Agon saga isn't over, and Unsui checks out the link Hiruma sent him. Honestly, he wishes he hadn't, but it involves Agon, so he reads through the whole thing, up until the most recent update. He also finds the UnZo section, which is arguably even crazier than the rest of it purely because he's the protagonist. He's written surprisingly true to character- or would be, if he were the least bit interested in things like relationships with Hiruma and Sanzo.

(He almost can't find fault in the portrayal of his relationship with Agon, except maybe for the panels where he's fantasizing about kissing his twin- they're _brothers_. He's also fairly sure that Agon would never in a million years be jealous of Hiruma for catching his attention- or was it jealous of him for catching Hiruma's attention? Actually, it was probably both- Sai-Agon is every bit as selfish and ambitious as real Agon.)

The next few messages Hiruma receives are short and stilted, as though Unsui's brain is in the middle of a meltdown but he's holding onto his last shred of sanity to remain polite and collected, or at least to give the impression of it.

「don't show agon」  
「ever」  
「ok?」

「stop making eyes at me, fucking monk」

Maybe it was a little mean of him to send Unsui direct quotes from the comic- the Fires' quarterback isn't easily flustered, but he's the type to resign himself, then buckle down and plow ahead anyway. Hiruma can respect that, but it also makes the older Kongo twin incredibly easy to mess with.

Hiruma laughs for another hour straight, shoots off a text to alert Suzuna of Unsui's revelation and takes the underclassmen Wizards out for dinner, Agon not included; he'd already made plans with some girl he'd met at the on-campus coffee shop.

Dinner goes by quickly. The team is at a casual Italian place, and Hiruma checks his phone throughout the meal, making a big show of hiding his laughter. Yamato's next to him and he is, by nature, affable so it leads to him looking over Hiruma's arm and exclaiming loudly to the table, "Hey, I recognize that style! It's Karin's, right?"

Ikkyu, who's sitting on Hiruma's other side, whips his head around, eyes wide. "The Alexanders' former quarterback, right, she's oni-cute. I met her a few weeks ago!"

Yamato turned his attention to Ikkyu, wide smile on his face like a proud older brother. "You did? She's great, isn't she?"

"Yeah! We had lunch with Unsui-san and Sanzo-san."

"Dinner? With Kongo Unsui? She doesn't go to school anywhere near Enma." Yamato glances over his shoulder to catch Taka's eye, expression serious, and points at Hiruma's phone. "Hey, Taka, did you hear about this? Do you think this is something we should be concerned about?"

"No," Taka deadpans, though his voice carries a tinge of warning, "and it's not Achilles' business either."

"I don't think she's Sanzo-san's type anyway," Ikkyu supplies helpfully, "but she and Unsui-san sure talked a lot. Agon-san was acting weird all night, too."

"Agon was there? Taka-"

"Nothing that interesting," Hiruma interrupts, and he hands his smartphone over to Ikkyu with the browser open to Saikyo Romance's latest update. "Any of that look familiar?"

"Whoa! That's Agon-san and Unsui-san and us, yeah." The cornerback starts at the top and works his way down, not narrating but commenting to the table throughout. "Agon-san was acting just like that at dinner! Ah, but that didn't happen. Neither did that. Unsui-san definitely wasn't thinking anything like that, either."

"Wait," Juumonji says as he leans across the table just then, hands on either side of Hiruma's plate to get a better look at his phone, "what did Agon do now?"

He gets an eyeful of Unsui putting his hand on Sanzo's shoulder, shojo bubbles erupting from every corner of the panel.

Juumonji cringes, reaches over Ikkyu's arm to scroll up, and raises his eyebrows at an illustration of Agon and Hiruma exchanging a lust-filled stare. "Saikyo Romance? The hell is that?"

"A BL webcomic/novel about the ace quarterbacks of the Saikyo University Wizards and other college league football teams," Akaba pipes up from the other end of the table, his own phone out, reading off the screen, "this work does not depict real situations and is entirely fan-made."

"Well you know," Yamato says matter-of-factly, "she's always liked shojo better, I guess that's one way to take a break from drawing Eyeshield 21..."

"Holy shit," Juumonji says, "oh shit, I have to send this to Toga. Hey, Hosokawa, could you find a page with-"

"Oni-ahead of you," Ikkyu says, flashing one of the earlier pages, where Agon and Hiruma accidentally bump fingers reaching for a bottle of water, and then simultaneously blush.

"Holy shit," Juumonji says again, only taking a moment to sneak a look at Hiruma's amused expression before he snaps a picture with his own phone and sends it.

Diners at the table behind Banba direct a piercing, annoyed look at the rowdy bunch of football players (he can feel their gazes prickling between his shoulder blades), but the lineman just crosses his arms over his chest and shakes his head, goes back to his pasta and tries to ignore the rest of his team. Some things are better of remaining Someone Else's Problem.

* * *

After a weak showing in Hiruma's freshman year, the Saikyo Wizards blaze through the college tournament to defeat the Babels and become Rice Bowl champs in his second. It wasn't so much a matter of skill- the level of the Wizards was impossibly high even without a crop of talented freshmen, but their inability to work together as a team had brought them down against Kid's quick-draw. It was less of an issue against weaker teams.

They had solved that problem by sophomore year. Even the members who had clashed at first or hated each other- well, they still clash and hate each other (read: Agon still clashes with and hates everyone), but at least in-game, they function like a well-oiled machine.

In practice matches against Enma, too, everyone works in perfect tandem to keep Agon far away from Mizumachi, who for some reason _really likes SaiRo_. Hiruma's fairly certain that most of the reason the Wizards managed to become a cohesive unit is thanks to the other lineman's complete and utter inability to keep a secret.

The Fires keep Mizumachi busy on their bench when they're not in play, and when he starts to wander over to speak to the Wizards, call him back to ask for help or for a snack or a drink of water. When that doesn't work, the Wizards take turns shuttling Mizumachi away from Agon, working off shared looks and private signals. When the situation becomes dire, Hiruma taunts Agon to hold his attention in one place.

Over the course of one year, the Saikyo Wizards transform from a talented but mismatched and discordant team into one that can safely boast of a reputation for flawless cooperation.


	2. Year Two

Hiruma compiles on his phone list a set of contacts labeled "SaiRo" the winter after his second year, which he mass-texts every time Karin updates. It's a list of nearly all the players who make appearances in the series, and the players he knows are fans. Musashi seems more amused by it than anything else; he reminds Hiruma that it's been a while since they last went out for coffee, after the chapter Sai-Agon has a jealous explosion at Sai-Hiruma for spending too much time with the kicker of the Takekura Construction Babels.

SaiRo's popularity grows steadily among a certain sect of sports BL fandom as well as a good chunk of college girls; so much so that Sanzo and Karin start receiving in their message boxes demands for some sort of community where fans can gather. It's a little beyond Sanzo's abilities to set up a forum so he asks Hiruma instead.

He has to think it over for about two seconds, until the thought of Agon stumbling across whatever amateur hackjob message board Sanzo can cobble together makes the decision for him. He cuts a deal for 80% of the profit from the few ads running on the site; the rest goes back to maintenance. There are a few separate categories: introductions, update discussion, general discussion, fanworks.

This is how Hiruma finally begins to understand SR shipping culture.

It starts simple; portmanteaus like HiruAgon or MusaHiru, UnZo, A-Un, AKyu, IchiUn, they all make sense. A few days in, some numbers start popping up- 11, 240, 180, 24, 80- and it doesn't take Hiruma long to figure out that a few of the more pretentious message board members are multiplying jersey numbers to refer to their pairings. That system doesn't last long; there are too many combinations of numbers that could result in the same multiple and for all the ways this kind of dedication is a little disturbing, the gradual evolution of SaiRo's fanbase is interesting enough that Hiruma can't stop watching.

A guide goes up, compiled by a helpful fan in Sapporo (_Sapporo!?_). It's a list of the players on the top college and X-league teams that appear in SR, along with their jersey numbers. This causes a fundamental shift in the way the fanbase addresses players- HiruAgon becomes 0102, UnZo is colloquially referred to as 1220, and everyone knows that 0233 means AKyu and 4018 is ShinSaku and 4021 is ShinSena.

(It's a comedy goldmine; there's at least one very vocal 0112 shipper and fairly large 0212 base and Suzuna's handle is actually Cheerstar2012 which never fails to crack Hiruma up when he sees her name pop up- her posts are full of _what are you talking about? of course 20chan is the seme, he'll teach 12nii romance and take good care of him~ ＼(｀0´)／ 12nii is clueless about this kind of thing!_

He always links Unsui discussion threads dominated by 12 fans, because many of them are truly hysterical, but most of the time he doesn't get a reply.)

* * *

Karin formally asks Unsui for permission to attend Fires practices (in addition to games) at the beginning of his junior year, her sophomore. For real research, and she has the e-mail from her editor to prove it so Unsui agrees on the condition that she doesn't interfere with drills or leak their plays.

(He says nothing about SaiRo, though, because it brings attention and attendance to their games, which results in sponsors and better funding, which is something he has to worry about because their coach actually knows nothing about college sports. Unsui decides that he might as well put that finance and law double-major to good use.)

SR turns its focus on the Fires that year, starts getting into the mechanics of football and the game chapters become more detailed and elaborate as Karin gains more confidence in her sports-drawing. Unsui's accommodating with regard to letting her have free run of the field during practices and he gets her press passes for games in exchange for taking video.

Sena and Shin's rivalry continues to rage that year too and their intense showdowns draw a big chunk to add to SaiRo's fanbase. Karin's as much a football player as anyone else so she covers it seriously (though she can't resist slipping in some 4021 and 4018 subtext; it's in her blood).

Saikyo still features, so there's plenty of 0240 too. Unsui figures it's better than 0212 so now that he's got access to Karin, he might have possibly talked up how much attention Agon focused on Shin in high school and still does in college. (Just an offhand _When Agon was talking about Shin last night_ here and _I don't think I've ever seen my brother look at someone like that_ there, _Agon's pretty excited for the match against Ohjo, he always likes clashing with Shin_. Anyone who thinks he's above being underhanded doesn't know him very well.)

Shin doesn't help, either. Every time he's interviewed, he says things like, _My clashes with Eyeshield 21 are enjoyable for me as well,_ and _Given another chance, I would like to play alongside Kongo Agon; our defensive styles are compatible_. The quiet squeals of delight from the spectator seats within earshot seem to fly right over his head.

If anyone asks, Unsui's only ever vaguely heard of a series called SaiRo but it sounds interesting and sure, maybe he'll check it out sometime.

* * *

Unsui's taken to turning off his phone. It's not that he doesn't like receiving text from Hiruma, because the other quarterback is almost always interesting conversation, but he gets spammed with SaiRo quotes whenever it updates and he just _knows_ Hiruma's cackling on the other end.

It's when the other quarterback starts texting Sena instead, ordering him to read the lines out loud to Unsui (which he does, with profuse apologies), that he decides to step in.

「fine, i'm back. stop harassing my RB.」

Unsui rereads the message after he sends it, which is also when he finally processes what he actually wrote. Any normal human being would read that sentence innocently, but he's dealing with _Hiruma_, of all people, and Hiruma's been dealing with Saikyo Romance for about a year by that point. (Then again, so has Unsui and the damage has already been done. All he can do is contain it.)

Hiruma feels the need to inform him, 「forwarded that to koizumi」 and Unsui replies 「i figured」 before he sets the volume to silent instead.

The next two weeks are a brief period in which Karin posts some _very_ cute art of Sena and him doing adorable things like eating sundae out of the same cup and falling asleep on each other's shoulders. He keeps expecting an illustration of himself nudging a meatball to Sena across a plate with his nose, but it never actually comes and her interest thankfully wanes (there's a severe lack of tragedy in this 'ship).

* * *

The result of having plenty of screentime in SaiRo but very little romantic subplot (after all, Kakei's in America and Julie finally said 'you know, let's give it a shot' and Akaba and Yamato's friendship really blossomed at the end of Yamato's freshman year) is two very dedicated fans who would like to turn everyone else into the same.

Kotaro, while an idiot, has little trouble keeping Saikyo Romance a secret from people who have the ability and inclination to very easily snap his neck (he just avoids Agon). Mizumachi has no such compunctions and has since the World Cup frequently acted as Agon's punching bag- the abuse just doesn't faze him, which Unsui knows is just as frustrating for Agon as it is painful for anyone watching.

Mizumachi's taken to joining Unsui on his morning runs in addition to laps during official practice time, which he does around Enma's campus now (the rest of the team joins them once or twice a week, depending on when they arrive). He occasionally shows up with bruises on his face or a fresh black eye, usually mornings after they have a practice game against Saikyo.

Unsui doesn't know why Mizumachi insists on aggravating Agon- nothing good can ever really come out of acting as his twin's Cupid of Friendship. It takes him a while, but he figures it out like this.

Things Unsui knows about Mizumachi Kengo: Kakei Shun's best friend; excellent linebacker; really bad at math; extremely social; 'genius of hard work'; has an intense workout regimen; swimming champ who made his debut with Kyoshin before disappearing just as abruptly after his team deserted him.

'Agon is probably lonely' isn't an idea that's new to Unsui- his brother doesn't have the patience to wait for people to catch up to him, but maybe going to Saikyo's eased that burden a bit. He comes alive when he's in the company of fellow superhumans, and rivalry is a kind of camaraderie, too. (Unsui's happy for him, even though that monster team is his biggest obstacle on his path to the Rice Bowl.)

He extrapolates that to _Genius is probably a lonely title to hold_, which leads to a moment in which Unsui mentally smacks himself on the forehead and thinks, _Oh._

He has to replace his stock of cold patches and ice packs and sprays more frequently than ever now that Mizumachi's taken it upon himself to introduce Agon to True Friendship. Unsui doubts he'll ever really succeed, but he gives up on trying to stop him, because Agon could really stand to have a few more people in his life who will relentlessly irritate him.

(Sai-Mizumachi's appearances steadily increase, however, and he seems to spend most of his time trying to hook his teammates up. With each other, and with their rivals on other teams, and he says things like "Friendship is great! Love is even better!"

Actual Mizumachi predictably has a lot of fun with it, and spends moments in practice he's not doggedly practicing technique to chatter at Karin about her ideas, offering anecdotes like the time Ikkyu dropped by to give Unsui his birthday present and wouldn't meet his eyes and blushed the whole time, or that day Sena caught a flu and showed up to practice anyway with a face mask and his uniform on and Unsui yelled at him for being careless with his own health before Monta could. And then he asked Riku to take him to the nurse's office. _Unsui's scary when he's angry and Ikkyu has a massive crush on him_, is the message Karin assumes Mizumachi's trying to convey.)

* * *

「update」

Unsui gets the text in his inbox and he already feels a headache building at the base of his skull. A big story arc had just begun, and it seems to be shaping up to be about him and Agon, and he doesn't doubt that this update would be too. It's contrived and silly and fueled by Communication Issues (which, okay, Unsui can admit he and Agon have in epic, steaming spades) and he'll never see the appeal of these stories, but they're almost distressingly popular. He had assumed that 0240 would take longer to wrap up, but Karin seems to be partial to 0212 when 0102 isn't happening.

Ikkyu, for once, manages to pre-empt Hiruma, who likes to quote updates at him, and Suzuna, who likes to talk to him as if he hasn't lost any and all control over his life and the things that happen in SaiRo.

「unsuisan, i think your storys going in an onitragic direction」

「stay here /」

「uu-nii don't do that, you'll get sick too! (´Д` ) what about sanchan!」

He doesn't usually get this flood of text messages and Ikkyu's fills him with an uncomfortably intense mix of paranoia and uneasy anticipation. He has a reputation to keep up (the careful, observant quarterback of the Enma Fires can't just ignore something that could leave lasting repercussions on his team and his friends) so Unsui pulls the most recent update up in literature class on his phone, from where he settles near the back of the room.

* * *

_Agon hadn't brought an umbrella or a jacket- and then he'd gone to Tokyo, taking an air-conditioned train in nothing but his wet sleeveless tee and khaki shorts. Of course he'd get sick. It would be strange if he didn't. What Unsui didn't expect was for Agon to have a splitting headache when he'd gone to pick his twin up at the train station at the crack of dawn, a raging fever the whole way home, and by the time he'd been tucked (wrestled) back into bed, Unsui was almost as tired as his twin._

_He didn't hesitate when he made the decision to skip class and keep an eye on his brother. Unsui called the doctor promptly while he set a cup of water on the table by Agon's bed, then left and came back a few minutes later with a bottle of some painkillers. He'd only used them sparingly when he sprained his shoulder during practice in his first year on the Fires, so the little plastic container was still mostly full._

_Brows furrowed in pain, teeth clenched against the pounding against the inside of his skull, Agon looked even more dangerous asleep than he usually does awake, but Unsui gamely (and gently) shook him by the shoulder until his brother pushed himself up on his elbows and blinked up at him. Unsui pressed two capsules of acetaminophen into Agon's hand and waited for him to pop them into his mouth before holding the glass of water up to his lips._

_Agon muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'I didn't need you to bring me this shit,' and fell back onto the futon, eyes slipping shut again. Unsui pulled the comforter up over his twin's shoulders, brushed Agon's dreadlocks out of his face and ran a cool, damp washcloth over his forehead._

_It didn't take long for the painkillers to take effect and the crease between Agon's brows smoothed significantly in that short time- or maybe it was Unsui's presence that did it. Whatever it was, Unsui settled himself on the edge of his brother's futon, gingerly pulled his feet up and folded his hands in his lap._

_Shortly after (half an hour at most), something tugging on his wrist drew his attention and Unsui snapped out of his meditation._

_"Water," Agon rasped, and only growled quietly when his brother pulled him up to sit, shoulders braced against his. Unsui brushed Agon's dreads out of the way after he finished drinking and leaned in to press their foreheads together, frowning at the heat radiating from his skin._

_"How do you feel?" _

_If anyone asked, Agon would blame it on the fever later but he leaned closer and exhaled sharply, warm breath rushing over his twin's lips even as Unsui stilled and tensed, "How the hell do you think I feel?"_

_"Go back to sleep," he replied after a long second, expression softening as he stood up. "If your fever doesn't break soon, I'll call the doctor and ask him to bump your appointment up."_

_Agon complied, sort of. He flopped back down, curling into the already-warm space he had occupied earlier. When Unsui turned to leave, he dealt a sharp chop to the back of his brother's knee and grabbed his wrist when it came within range. _

_"Agon," Unsui snapped, "what do you think you're-"_

_He was cut off as Agon dragged him forward and then under the blanket, immediately repositioning the captured arm into an ideal position for use as a pillow. Unsui briefly considered struggling, but Agon was already out (no one with his personality should be allowed to look that peaceful asleep), and Fires practice could go on without him, once in a while, so he settled in, one arm thrown over Agon's shoulders._

* * *

Unsui reads through most of the update with the impassive expression of someone who's resigned himself to the fact that he's a character in a BL webcomic and he has his head in his hands by the time he reaches an illustration of him and Agon gazing adoringly into each other's eyes.

He closes the tab before he can bring himself to read the rest of it, and then out of morbid curiosity pulls it back up when he gets on the train back to the apartment. Things that don't actually happen on those rare occasions Agon gets sick: everything that just happened in SaiRo. Unsui isn't crazy enough to put his face so close to his brother's when he's disease-ridden, for one thing; he can't afford to miss practice. (Agon is also far less pleasant when ill than Sanzo seems to believe he is; if he's sleeping instead of whining for better food and more entertainment, then the situation calls for more drastic measures than just acetaminophen and a cool washcloth.)

There's a part of him that wonders how Karin could have known that he'd hurt his arm in freshman year, though Sanzo might have told her. And how Sanzo managed to remember something as minor as a sprain and his painkiller habits will always be a mystery to him.

(In addition to that, how _anyone_ knew that he'd skipped class to stay with Agon that time his brother caught a nasty cold is something Unsui doesn't particularly want to think about.)

* * *

Agon's phone goes off when he's got a cute blonde 'librarian type' in his lap trying to separate him from his pants. She stops and looks at him curiously, then opens her mouth in preparation for a round of questioning. He growls low under his breath and unhooks her bra to prompt her to get back to work, but she shifts away and retrieves his phone.

She flashes him the screen, where a picture of the back of Unsui's bald head and 'Unko-chan' flash on the screen. "Agon-kun," she says, "isn't this your brother?"

"When the hell did you meet my brother?" he asks, snatching it out of her hand and hanging up.

"I saw the two of you on the train a few weeks ago," she says, and then pouts, "remember?"

Agon, not for the first time, takes a moment to regret the fact that Unsui'd picked a university in Tokyo. Ever since Unsui had moved to city, the bitches had started to text him with 'Agon-kun, guess who I just ran into!' and 'Agon-kun, your brother is so cute~' and 'Agon-kun, why didn't you tell me you had a twin, I think I scared him when I jumped on him' and 'Unsui-kun just thanked me for looking after you... ah, what a sweetheart.'

Sweetheart his _ass_, more like the most embarrassing fucking sibling in the goddamn _world._ Though Agon's sure he would've harassed his brother into moving with him anyway if he'd tried to stay in Kanagawa (it's always easier to live with Unsui than to have to find a shitty roommate).

He gets a text message a few seconds later. "Yeah, yeah. Idiot brother wants me to take a jacket with me tomorrow. Fucking annoying."

"He just doesn't want you to catch a cold," she says, settling back into his lap, hands reaching up to tangle in his dreads, "it must be nice to have a brother who cares about you so much."

"Yeah, well maybe if he wasn't such a nag."

"It'd be nice to meet him properly sometime. Agon-kun, you should introduce him to me~"

There's an undercurrent in her voice that Agon can't quite place, something between curiosity and excitement. He's thinking about investigating it a little further but then she unbuckles his belt and he decides that they can cover that ground later when they don't have more pressing matters to attend to. He keeps his voice neutral and light, but doesn't bother to hide the warning tone. "Hey now Ako-chan, are you here for me or my brother? Anezaki didn't say baldies were your type."

"Obviously you..."

"Let's not talk about Unko-chan then, okay?"

* * *

Later that night; 'Discussion Characters'

OKA 「i really want to see more 0212wwwwwww they are really cute」

CheerStar2012 「but everything's been about them lately! (( _ _ ))..zzzZZ and 2012 hasn't updated in a week...」

OKA 「but there's something about brothers don't you think? i bet 12 reminds 02 all the time when it's going to rain now. it would be hard on both of them to repeat that arc... and they have a big game coming up! i don't know who to root for.」

CheerStar2012 「i don't know why you like 0212 so much o金e, weren't you just reading for the games?」

OKA 「it's true i like the shonen element most, but their texts are so cute...」

dragonfly 「you can read their texts!? share, please!」

OKA 「well i can't really get to them anytime... but in my experience, i can tell you SR pretty much gets it right! one of my best friends is the wizards manager, she says it's close too.」

Masa「oh, i'm really jealous...! i can't even come to games from osaka, i have to watch online」

OKA 「magikkun has all the games streamed and recorded so we're pretty lucky, don't you think?」

Masa「yes! magic is the best moderator o(^▽^)o i wish we knew who he was...」

* * *

Yamato unironically enjoys SaiRo- partly because it's Karin's project but mostly because despite its subject matter (his teammates falling rampantly in love with each other), it's still a well-written story. Besides, it's never a bad time to learn more about his opponents and team. The difficult part is getting Taka to give it a try, which the receiver has staunchly refused to do, even though Sai-Taka almost never gets himself into truly embarrassing Situations.

Boring classes are ideal for prodding his teammate, so Yamato spends most of math and physics texting in the back, phone set permanently on vibrate.

「taka, update」

「Yamato, I don't care.」

「you should read it」  
「you're in it」

He takes this time to copy the link to the most recent update, another Saikyo-Enma game rife with heated exchanges and hotblooded speeches. (It's no surprise to Yamato that SaiRo is popular with boys who like sports shonen; he assumes they just skim past the romantic parts.)

「That doesn't make me want to read it.」

「but taka it's great」

「Stop.」

「SERIOUSLY!」

Yamato is only vaguely aware of the fact that he's making weird expressions at his phone in the middle of class, but his memory is good enough that the teacher really can't call him on not paying attention. Memorizing a few equations is small beans compared to the complexity of defensive and offensive formations.

「Yamato, no.」

「i think you'd like it」

「I think you're wrong.」

「but montakun is in it too」

「...」

「does this mean you're reading it」

「No, it means I'm not replying to you anymore.」

「taka!」  
「taka?」  
「oh come on, taka」  
「it's great」  
「you say cool things like 'if enma is the opponent, then i won't hold back either'」

True to his word, Yamato's phone stops going off and he's learned many lessons in America, including things like Persistence Is Key and The Squeaky Wheel Gets The Grease, so he decides to be the squeaky wheel. Perfect fusion of east and west; a taste of America in Japan.

「karin's getting much better at action scenes too」  
「i should tell her that」  
「ok done」  
「don't you want to see how the qb you scouted is doing now?」  
「(shes doing ok)」  
「taka」  
「taka you win against montakun this time」  
「sorry that was a lie, you actually lose」  
「and agonshi turned into a purple hippo」  
「it was great」  
「sorry, that was a lie too」

「Yamato, I'm turning off my phone.」

Yamato frowns at his phone, already resigned to the fact that Taka's about to ignore him in earnest, but he sends a last flurry of texts for the receiver to find when he turns his phone back on anyway.

「spoilsport」  
「taka?」  
「you were serious?」  
「fine but you're missing out」

* * *

Sanzo and Karin agree on just about everything; their first point of contention arises when Sanzo says that he thinks Unsui-kun and Ikkyu-kun would be terribly cute together, but Karin insists that it's because he likes both of them (which is true, but it's not the _only_ reason, by any means) and that he just doesn't want to insert himself into the comic enough to be conspicuous (which is also true, and definitely most of the reason: but isn't it only natural for him to want to pair his two favorite characters?)

He texts Suzuna instead, who always seems to understand how he feels about Unsui and who he knows is a big fan of the Nagas.

「 (´ω｀ ) what does suzunachan think about unsuikun and ikkyukun?」

「yaa... i dont know. uunii mostly talks about agonne but 9kun texts him a lot too! ( ⌒o⌒)人(⌒-⌒ )v」

It's not quite the answer he's looking for, but Sanzo doesn't give up; Shinryuuji's football training is brutal on the best of days and he didn't stick that out for so long only to give up in the face of Suzuna-chan's ship myopia. Ichi-Un is perfectly valid and 3312 is adorable (he really can't picture Unsui taking the lead in a relationship, the poor boy is so repressed).

「you should have seen them at shinryuuji! (✿ ‿ )」  
「agonkun only ever acknowledged unsuikun and ikkyukun」  
「and they played so well together! and unsuikun would always make sure ikkyukun would be drinking enough water」  
「(● ∀ ) and ikkyukun was always looking at unsuikun at the beginning of a play even if he was on the bench for defense...!」

「that sounds really complicated ( ・◇・)？ sanchan... 」

「but they're really cute together right? (ﾉﾟ▽ﾟ)ﾉ」

「uunii and 9kun are cute but uunii is only allowed to belong to sanchan! o(｀ω´*)o 9kun can too!」

The feeling of warmth and affection for Suzuna that washes over Sanzo puts his conflict with Karin completely out of his mind. The fact that someone out there supports his uphill battle touches him to his very core (after all, if Unsui has an OTP, it would be himself/football and Sanzo has never seen him flustered by any girl _or_ boy, seemingly oblivious even to the most obvious come-ons from Agon's girlfriends and Shinryuuji underclassmen in his third year).

It's with happy tears in his eyes that he replies.

「 (*´∀｀*)人(*´∀｀*) suzunachan is the best after all」

* * *

Karin draws most of the games, because it's not something Sanzo's particularly interested in (it's enough for him to play in them) and it's great material for her portfolio. Unsui and Hiruma both provide her with game videos for reference (high school games for the series she's actually getting paid for, too), but they don't share with each other.

Ikkyu and Monta, who are always well-represented as the ace cornerback and receiver of their respective teams, have kept up their correspondence from high school well into college, so naturally SaiRo comes up as a topic of conversation. Ikkyu takes his lusting-after-Kongo-twins cameos fairly well (_Ah, it's okay... Agon-san and Unsui-san are oni amazing after all..._) and Monta's mostly Sena's sidekick, except for catching showdowns during game chapters (_I'm okay with that MAX_!).

Talking about SR tends to morph into talking about their teams and the strange parallels that seem to crop up between real life and webfiction; Monta would feel guilty about texting during class but he wouldn't have understood most of it even if he were listening.

Besides, Unsui's tapped Riku to tutor the second years, and Ikkyu only ever replies this quickly when he's in his literature class, too.

「oni great catch on p4! you'd better not let down your guard for practice next week against us wizards either! Ｏ( ｀_´)乂(｀_´ )Ｏ」

「this nagas arc is pretty interesting too, ikkyusenpai... ⊂((・x・))⊃ have you seen unsuisan lately? he looks tired max! just like in the update!」

「is he okay? agonsan is the same as usual at practice, so you can tell him not to worry」

It's common knowledge that Unsui's circle of concern doesn't extend very far, and if he were being honest Ikkyu would have liked to be on the same team as the rest of the Nagas, but having his friends on rival teams is fun too. Spirit of sportsmanship, and all.

「even if i say it...」

「it's probably just the fall tournament (´･_･`) he gets oni stressed about that kind of thing... take good care of him! if unsuisan gets sick, agonsan will be even scarier than usual...!」

「he didn't seem worried about it at all but i guess it's really up to us, isn't it ikkyusenpai. KATSU MAX」

「this is a serious responsibility, so don't slack! shishihakuto!」

「(￣^￣)ゞ everyone has to be at their best when we meet in the finals! i'll tell sena too」

* * *

Riku's the one who ends up forcing Unsui to take a break from practice, with backup from the formerly-Deimon offensive backs. The three of them bar the door between locker room and field (all it would really take is Kurita, but he's already started his laps) and when Unsui tries to weave around them, they form a solid line. When the quarterback tries to break through anyway, they manage to rebuff him, knowing he'd never actually bowl them over to get them out of the way (Unsui is strong but he's not a lineman and more than that, he's too nice to tackle someone outside of a game).

Karin watches the entire exchange with Mizumachi, who had excitedly informed her that the Enma Shorties are collectively up to something and she should watch- he's definitely going to.

"Riku," Unsui finally sighs, backing up to sit on the bench, "what's the point of this?"

"If you have to ask," Riku says sternly, "then you really do need a break, Unsui-san."

(_Riku/Unsui,_ Karin thinks, but quickly shoves it out of her mind. SaiRo's headed in a precarious direction already and she can't use any pairing that catches her eye _just like that_.)

There's a flash of Agon in the manner Unsui's eyes narrow, features not at all tempered by a layer of iridescent glass the way his brother's are.

Riku doesn't retreat but he does impatiently check his watch when Unsui stands up and approaches, towering over him, his strides long, bearing overflowing with the aggressive confidence that's usually more characteristic of his twin. Karin has no idea whether it's his natural state just now coming to the surface or if it's body language the quarterback employs intentionally after observing Agon (she assumes the latter), but it is effective enough to drive Sena and Monta a hurried step back.

"If you're going to insist on this," he says, voice painfully even, "I think I deserve an explanation."

A voice cuts into the conversation before either he or Riku have a chance to react, and Ikkyu comes bounding up, slapping Monta's upraised hand as he barrels into the locker room. "Unsui-san!"

Dark Unsui persona abruptly shattered, he turns a mildly betrayed look to Riku before addressing Ikkyu. "What are you doing here?"

"Unsui-san, you look terrible," is how the cornerback starts his lecture. "You're all pale and you're definitely not getting enough sleep and I know you've just been eating takeout lately, okay, Agon-san's complaining about how you haven't been cooking at all. It's 'cause you're spending all your time at the gym, isn't it?"

"I'm fine-"

"You're always telling the underclassmen not to overwork themselves 'cause they're just gonna degrade their conditions, Unsui-san, but you oni don't listen to your own advice at all!"

"I'm not-"

Sena leans over to whisper to Monta, "You called Ikkyu-senpai?"

"Yeah, Riku told me to. It's working, right?" Monta's mouth curls up into a victorious grin. "I've never seen Ikkyu-senpai like this, he's usually just yelling at me not to slack off MAX..."

"Though I feel a bit bad for Unsui-san..."

Riku snorts. "Don't, Sena. He had it coming. Let's get back to practice."

The three of them trek out of the locker room, leaving their captain to Ikkyu's wrath, but Mizumachi and Karin take this time to sidle closer and get a better look. By the time Ikkyu's finished his initial tirade, Unsui's already back on the bench, legs on either side of it, leaning back on his hands while he waits patiently for Ikkyu to take a breath.

When he finally does, Unsui tugs him by the wrists to sit down in front of him, which he reluctantly does.

"Are you done, Ikkyu?"

"No, but whatever you have to say you better say it now, Unsui-san, you're still in for an earful."

"I'll be fine."

"_Unsui-san_-"

"I know my own condition better than anyone, alright? I'll rest up a few days before the match, promise." The grim determination in Unsui's eyes seems to fit on his face the way a well-worn pair of gloves or cleats would over his hands and feet, voice steady and reassuring, like he's trying not to set off a cornered animal. "If you're worried that I won't be at my peak against Saikyo in the semifinals, don't be."

"I was," Ikkyu grudgingly admits, "and if you go down against the Doctor Fishes, I'm not gonna forgive you, Unsui-san."

Unsui doesn't smile often, Karin thinks, but when he does, he always looks like he's holding something back. It's another one of those, mild and a little sad, but he reaches out and squeezes Ikkyu's shoulder, waiting for him to look up before he says, "Thanks, for worrying about me. I appreciate it, Ikkyu, but don't."

"Well... just for today then, Unsui-san, I came all the way out here, so let's get dinner together." He adds with a sly grin, looks towards the field where Riku is drilling Sena and Monta, "That guy won't let you back on the field today anyway."

Karin whips out her phone and punches in Sanzo's number with practiced speed.

「okay, i'm convinced.」

* * *

Sanzo gets his way when a lull in the story calls for some outside interference. Hiruma and Agon are busy with (trying to sabotage) each other (in between long bouts of alternating vitriol and UST) and he tries to keep himself out of the main continuity so canon Unsui is up for grabs. Karin had been thoroughly convinced by the 3312 showing a few days ago; it's the perfect opportunity.

(Canon Sanzo is studying in Kyoto; his relationship with Unsui is temporarily put on hold after a bittersweet parting, wherein they both acknowledged the possibility of finding someone else, but they're both pragmatic enough to know that a long-distance correspondence would only lead to more pain for them both. It was tragiromantic.)

_"Unsui-san," Ikkyu said, reaching for Unsui's hand and grabbing a hold of it in front of his door, "I'm going for a first down now, is that okay?"_

_"You what?" Unsui asked, but before he could process it, Ikkyu had pushed himself up on his tiptoes and pulled the taller boy into a quick, light kiss. After a few seconds, during which Ikkyu stared at his shoes and chewed on his lip, Unsui said, "Oh."_

_"Unsui-sa- mmph!?"_

_"Aa, sorry. Interception." Unsui's face flushed as he pulled away completely after returning the favor, but a small smile still snuck onto his face, only a few centimeters from Ikkyu's. "The offense switched."_

_"U-Unsui-san-!_

* * *

"Oh my god," Goku says, banging his hand against the table in the dorm he shares with Hakkai and Gojyo, "oh my god, you guys, come here."

Gojyo rolls out of his bed, away from his laptop to look over the other lineman's shoulder. "What happened? Did you see something cool?"

"Holy shit," Hakkai says, "that's Ikkyu."

"And Unsui!"

"Oh man!" Gojyo crows, "Oh man, they _would_ make lame football puns at each other."

"Someone text Yamabushi-senpai, he has to see this!"

When Ikkyu finally checks his phone after practice, his inbox is almost full. He doesn't hear from the Saiyuki Trio very often anymore, but when he does it's usually all of them at once and he reads the first few lines of several texts (「yeah loverboy, go get him!」 「u-u-u-unsuisan!」「INTERCEPTION」「wow you really need to work on your defense」「and offense」「and pickup lines」) before he clears them all in one fell swoop.

He doesn't text Unsui about it and the other boy very tactfully doesn't bring the update into conversation either, skillfully steering them away from any topics that can lead to Karin and Sanzo and any sort of romance, Saikyo or not. It's impressive the way an artist is, when they've clearly been dedicated to their craft for several long decades.

* * *

Agon finds out about Saikyo Romance minutes before the beginning of the Rice Bowl. Ikkyu's reading the most recent update on his phone in the locker room, casually skimming it just to stay updated, when Agon looms up silently behind him, no warning, reading over his shoulder.

And because Ikkyu's life is actually just a series of one unfortunate event after another, the first page Agon sees has Agon on it; the second page he sees has Hiruma on it, and the third page he sees has him pinning Hiruma up against a locker and sticking a hand up his shirt.

The locker Ikkyu's sitting in front of, which he had thought was interesting and kind of a funny coincidence up until the very moment Agon's low, dangerous, _What the fuck is this?_ has him jumping about three feet in the air, sending his phone flipping in a graceful arc over his head. He meets Agon's eyes and the words _Aerial Catch Expert VS Godspeed Impulse_ marquee across the back of his mind, but Aerial Catch Expert trumps reaction time in a catching battle so he reclaims the phone without any bloodshed.

It's when he's back on the ground that Ikkyu realizes he probably should have let Agon have it but he hangs on stubbornly, until Hiruma walks into the locker room to see Agon twisting his arm behind his back and liberating his phone just long enough to scan the page and memorize the URL.

"Agon-san, I can explain!"

Hiruma switches gears into damage control mode with the speed and grace of a pro racecar driver. He snaps loudly, "Have your breakdown after the game, fucking dreads, the fucking old man is asking us to crush him."

Agon seems to weigh that in his mind (break legs or win a football tournament? the answer is only obvious to people who enjoy football more than they like breaking legs), decides in the end that he can catch up anytime and the more pressing matter involves stomping some trash into the dirt, even if the sight of Hiruma's face makes him want to smash things. "Aah? Why would I have a breakdown over this dumb shit, you piece of trash?"

Ikkyu mouths _I owe you one_ to Hiruma when Agon turns his back to shrug into his shoulderpads and jersey.

When he finally catches up (after a hard-won Rice Bowl, a few bruised ribs from that gorilla trash and a victory lunch party), the only person unlucky enough to be within reach is Unsui. Because they live together. Which the older twin is really starting to regret.

"I'm gonna kill those shitty pieces of trash," Agon says through clenched teeth, voice oddly calm.

_Eye of the storm,_ Unsui thinks as he stacks the plates they used for dinner and shuttles them to the sink, but what he says is, "It's harmless, Agon. Ignore it."

"Yeah Unko," he answers with a sneer, "that's exactly what I'm gonna do to the pieces of trash who're _writing this shit about me._ Ignore them."

"It's Koizumi Karin," Unsui says patiently, and Agon's seen enough of her (probably too much of her) in the last year and a half to _really_ want to smash her face in, though he does briefly consider breaking her arms.

There's another long silence where Agon's turning that over in his mind; he knows it's a two-man project, and he's already narrowed the suspects down, so it's just a matter of locating Sanzo, really. Agon's quicker so he reaches his brother's phone first, but Unsui's weapon was never his speed and Agon's not stupid. "If you kill Sanzo, what are your chances with Koizumi? Pretty close to zero."

"Well they're not zero now, are they Unko-chan?"

"Oh." His expression is innocently surprised, a quirked eyebrow that makes Agon's hackles rise, and Unsui says with a calculated sort of offhandedness, "You _have_ been spending a lot of time around Hiruma, haven't you?"

"_Don't compare me to that trash_."

Agon calms down when he finds the UnZo section (really more SanSui these days). There's a weird sort of respect mixed with the disgust in his expression when he's done reading it, which Unsui's really not sure how he should take. "Hey Unko," he says in a call to Unsui in the middle of class, which he had to duck out to answer, "when's the next time that homo trash is coming around?"

"If I tell you, are you going to ambush him?"

"No, I'm not gonna interrupt your fucking date."

Unsui winces, but it's better than hearing 'yeah, I'm going to kill our former teammate while you're out shopping for football supplies, you'll just turn around and poof, dead baldie trash' so he lets it slide. "Next week. He says he needs help picking out new cleats for his team."

He gets a silence that says he's missing something important, probably, but his twin has better things to do than to tell him what it is, and Agon asks instead, "Koizumi coming out too?"

"If she has time."

"I'll make time," Agon says easily, as if that's just another thing he can bend to his will.

"Takeout for dinner," Unsui sighs into the receiver, right before he hangs up.

* * *

_How did things turn out like this?_ is the thought that keeps running through Unsui's mind as he pokes at a plate of chicken curry and rice. He couldn't resist buying a new set of wristbands (specially woven to wick away sweat, dry quickly and cool down in the process) at the sports store while he waited for Sanzo to place an order, and Agon and Karin had split off to check out an art shop, though they'd all met back up for lunch.

Agon hasn't surprised Unsui in a long time but he's oddly well-versed in classic and contemporary art, which definitely throws him for a loop. Expression attentive, Juliets perched on top of his head, he switches topics from football, back to art, Karin's classes, the news- their conversation flows fast and easy the way it never does with any of his teammates, but Unsui can see the sheen of insincerity even if it's probably hidden from everyone else at the table.

He sounds refined, friendly, interested, and Unsui knows that it's not really a 'face' per se, because Agon is and can be all of those things, but usually not without an ulterior motive.

Unsui also can't take his eyes off a half-grain of rice that had decided to stick itself to the collar of Agon's fitted gray shirt, tiny smear of curry on his bottom lip, and it's weird because his brother isn't a messy eater.

Careless, sure, but Unsui can remember plenty of times he's picked at a stain on his own uniform from dripping sauce and then looked over to Agon, clothing pristine even after a particularly messy meal. And maybe he's just been reading too much SaiRo but Unsui hasn't been able to dispel the thought that their entire day excursion has been kind of like a double date and he probably shouldn't add more fuel to the potential love quadrangle fire, but-

"Agon," he says at last, picking the grain of rice off Agon's shirt and taking a napkin to his face, acutely aware of their tablemates' starry eyes as he hisses, "you're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

"Don't fucking ruin this for me," he mutters back into Unsui's ear as he leans in to rub his hand over the top of his head. And then he says out loud, "Aah, what are you, my mom?"

Sanzo turns his face to the side to hide his expression, but Unsui sees his hand rise to clutch his chest over his heart. Karin's more discreet, hiding a smile behind her milkshake, face downturned but gaze tilted up to watch, drinking in every detail.

Unsui, as a rule, tries not to think uncharitable thoughts about his brother, but _If someone kicked him in the head right now, I would probably shake their hand_ bubbles to the surface of his mind before he can suppress it.

Agon's thing with Karin does whatever the opposite of 'working out' is. He likes his girls easy and fast and she's anything but- the challenge is fun once in a while, but not when the target thinks he should be making out with that trash Hiruma even after he's expended the effort of trying to convince her that _she'd_ be much better off going out with _him_, fucking christ.

part one


	3. Year Three

Sena and Shin's rivalry comes to a head in the linebacker's final year (lovingly depicted in SaiRo, as always). Sena gets an email from Panther of all people, half in Japanese (he's taking classes, part-timing at the University of Notre Dame in between NFL games and practice), half in English. Sena reads it after Enma's victory against Ohjo in the semifinals of the spring college league tournament and not too long before they lose to Saikyo, again- it involves the usual niceties (great game, cool plays, you're still improving) and then the line that makes Sena's blood run cold.

「so the two of you gonna be ok after this? it's not worth letting this get between yknow... whatever you and shin have goin on」

Sena doesn't often acknowledge his own flashes of clarity, but his hands start moving in a procedure that has very much become routine. (_It's Watt,_ he thinks, _Jeremy Watt found it and sent it to Panther-kun, it can't be anyone else_.) He barely even sees the words as they flash across the screen, only pausing to fix a typo or adjust the phrasing of a sentence.

(How do you tell someone that you're not actually dating the linebacker of a rival team without acknowledging that that's what he asked? He would correct it by saying he and Suzuna are- well, he's not even sure what they are, really, they just sort of coexist in the same space more often than not and things are pretty okay. Americans are so hard to understand.)

He types Panther a long page of carefully-worded explanations, and ends with「i'm sure shin-san isn't taking it personally... we'll fight each other again in the pros.」

「yo, i'll be there too. _son you betta bring yo A game!_」

Sena's English has improved since high school- mostly as a function of exchanging mail with Panther- but he still has to ask Unsui to translate the last bit and the other boy watches enough football in English and reads enough Sports Illustrated (and player interviews and game analyses) to know exactly what trash talk is, even though it's mild, at best. Sena laughs, then goes back to his dorm to pull up a dictionary and painstakingly type a message back.

* * *

"You ever wonder," Kotaro says as he flicks a bottle cap up with the front edge of his polished black shoe, then kicks it into the closest trash bin, "where we're gonna go from here?"

Unsui pauses in the middle of rolling up the sleeve of his stiff white dress shirt, finishes the task and then loosens his tie, checking his reflection in a store window to make sure he appears relaxed but professional, rather than sloppy. "Aa. All the time."

"So where're we gonna go from here?"

"I always imagined you'd go pro," is the reply, and Unsui is nothing if not sincere about these things, so Kotaro nods, taking the lead as they turn the corner.

"That would be pretty smart, yeah. I'd go for that. What about you?"

Unsui could have graduated in two and a half years with a finance degree and an English minor, but he'd elected to stick it out for all four, emerging with an additional law degree under his belt (no one is under the delusion that he'd done it for any reason other than to keep playing football with the Fires, and he had still managed to end up on top of most of his classes). He says easily, "Find a job. Law school, if I get in."

"Man, my interview was _brutal_. Even worse than the application." Kotaro stretches, arms in the air, then leans back as if talking to someone and arguing a short, mock case had been physically strenuous. "If I don't have to do this policy stuff, that's okay with me, you know. I bet you did great."

"Maybe you'd have more fun as a defense attorney," Unsui offers, but moves on when he only receives a dismissive wave in return. "Or at the very least, a semi-pro kicker."

Kotaro has known Unsui for a little more that three years and his understanding of the quarterback is only at about 20 percent (35 if he wanted to be generous). All he's managed to learn is that there are certain topics he tends to avoid and turn back on the questioner (many of them involving his parents, and his post-college plans, and his relationship with Agon, and questions about the plays he calls- basically, just about everything).

So Kotaro doesn't bother asking Unsui why he isn't playing football after college; he'd posed an open invitation to talk about it a while back, and his teammate had bypassed it neatly. "What about your brother, huh? Are you guys still gonna live together after we all graduate?"

"I don't know," he says frankly, "maybe if we end up in the same place." Unsui fishes his wallet out of the inner pocket of the dark gray blazer he has slung over an arm, swipes it over the scanner and leads the way onto the train platform, standing precisely in front the space he knows the doors open.

Kotaro sighs, shoves his hands into his pockets and yawns, shifting his messenger bag's strap on his shoulder. "You ever get tired of him? I mean I'm with Akaba for like, an hour and I'm already done. That guy's not smart at all."

Unsui's features soften into an indulgent kind of neutrality as the train pulls up, tactfully avoiding mention of the fact that Kotaro hangs out with Akaba _every other day_, he's not fooling anybody. He waits for the doors to swish open, and steps on board before he answers, "He's my brother."

"Yeah, yeah. You know for a smart guy, you can be pretty dumb, Unsui. "

* * *

Kurita's trying to make him eat a cream puff, which Unsui's fairly certain doesn't actually have restorative properties, as far as food goes. But it is delicious, so he takes a bite, carefully angling the puff so the custard inside doesn't spill all over his hand and seep into the spaces between the keys of his laptop while they're in the middle of their International Policy and Ethics class.

"Shouldn't you be resting, Unsui?"

Saikyo's on the opposite side of the bracket for this fall tournament, so they'll either meet in the finals or not at all. Unsui takes it as a sign; Enma's fought Saikyo in every tournament in the last three years so he's been intensively reviewing game video for the next few weeks (it's not that he's ignoring the other teams, it's just that he only has eyes for Agon and the Wizards). For now, he has the video player up on one side of the screen and a word document open on the other so he can take notes.

Unsui pretty obviously has his headphones on, a light plastic SONY pair, one side in his ear and the other hooked to his collar and the professor would have called him into the office for it because his grades have been slipping, but then again, slipping for Kongo Unsui is straight A+s to the occasional A and it's been that way since high school. He'd made it clear from the beginning that football's his priority.

"_I'll sleep when I'm dead,_" he mutters because he likes the sound of it, the conviction behind that line, but amends, "If we want to have a chance against the Wizards, no."

Kurita doesn't thirst for victory as loudly as the rest of the Fires do, and he says things to convince himself that all he wants is to keep playing with the team for as long as possible. But Unsui knows the sound of lying to oneself, probably better than anyone else does, and he can _feel it_in his football-loving bones that Kurita's burning up the same as the rest of them.

The lineman reaches into his bag, extracts a thermos and unscrews the top. "Have some tea."

Kotaro's sleeping with his head on Kurita's shoulder but he wakes up to the sound of crinkling paper as Kurita unwraps another creampuff. He mumbles, "You're gonna share that, right?"

* * *

The tournament goes by in a blur. Zokuto is the first challenging team the Fires face- Habashira Rui's still the best player but this time he's brought a bunch of motivated ex-delinquents to the table. They can't stand up to Enma, but after the match, Rui claps Unsui on the shoulder, puts his other hand on top of his head to rub his palm over the stubble (for luck) and very loudly tells him to kick Agon's ass in the finals.

Unsui has to physically drag his twin away from a remorseless and only partially mauled Habashira afterwards (some gestures are only reserved for _twins_, and trash better fucking _remember that_).

The semifinals game against Ohjo is in the air until the last few seconds. Unsui lets Sena call the plays for most of it (after all, no one knows Shin better, though he does have the final say) and Kurita's (marginally) improved his speed enough to effectively hold Otarawa down. Sakuraba and Shin's combo is still the biggest threat, and Shin improves as rapidly as Sena does.

Unsui likes his sure-fire plays, but he's come to love gambling, too- it's hard not to, with Enma. Sena loses in confrontations against Shin almost as often as he wins- 55-45 are pretty bad odds, as far as Unsui's concerned, but he leaves it to Sena anyway. He's never had reason to regret it.

When the Ohjo game update goes up, Unsui savors it, rereads it, and texts Karin to compliment her on that two-page spread of Sena and Shin's collision in the final quarter.

* * *

Hiruma's taken to texting Unsui in English, when they actually have important things to discuss. Unsui assumes he doesn't want the rest of the Fires to know exactly what kinds of things they talk about when they manage to get their hands on his phone- and after having tried to tutor a good chunk of the team in English, he can see exactly why. The night before the college tournament finals, about an hour before Unsui's usually due to turn in, he receives a message.

「_feeling lucky, punk?_」

He's been watching a lot of movies in an American Media class, lately. Hiruma's fluent enough to make vague pop culture references to Dirty Harry and Unsui can get them, but he isn't so confident that he'd go and make many of his own.

「_not lucky. confident._」

「_if enma wins, i'll treat all you bastards to yakiniku. my slave owns the place. /em」_

「_if the wizards win, i'll treat your starters._」

「_do you understand what you're saying, fucking monk? well... the bank of hiruma's always open for a loan_」

「_is this an offer i can't refuse?_」

(The Godfather Trilogy, though, is a classic.)

「_you can take the cannoli, i'll have the gun_」

* * *

It's halftime; Enma's behind, but not by much and Unsui's got a towel slung over his shoulder, elbows on his knees and head lowered while he sits on the bench and waits for time to wind down to the third quarter. Sena taps him on the shoulder sometime around minute fifteen, gesturing discreetly across the field, to where Agon has set himself on a beeline to the Fires bench and the rest of the team is backing slowly away.

Unsui stands up, cants his head toward a neutral sideline and picks his way over, meeting his brother at the halfway point.

Agon has his helmet under one arm, a water bottle in his hand and he says, "Guess this is all your trash team can do, aah?"

Unsui decides not to remind him that they can catch up in three touchdowns (the odds are slim but not improbable; they can turn this into a north-south game if it wouldn't take so long, and the Enma Fires have some of the best offensive powerhouses in the league.)

He does, however, elect to remind Agon that he's been grinning through this entire game, because the Fires haven't been able to score much, but they've come perilously close several times already before being stopped and Agon hates a challenge (but he loves crushing worthwhile ones). "You say that," Unsui says mildly, gauging his twin's reaction, "but you're having fun."

"Aah?! During this tedious fucking game?"

(Dealing with Agon 101: he never says what he actually means.)

Unsui smiles. It's small, but bright, and the shine of obsession that had faded sometime in middle school is back with a vengeance, which only deepens his brother's frown and he says, "Go back to your bench, Agon. Enma won't rest in the second half."

Agon snorts, pushes his palm against Unsui's forehead and turns on his heels, dreads whipping in his wake as he walks away.

In the bleachers, Sanzo leans over when the exchange ends, excitedly squeezing Karin's elbow. "What do you think they said?"

"I have video, but no sound."

Sanzo tuts under his breath and checks his phone. "I'll ask Hiruma-kun after the game."

Karin already has her sketchbook open in her lap and she's roughly blocking out the panels, messy figures inhabiting the frames. She doesn't even need to know what they're saying to plan out the composition of each panel, anymore- the twins' expressions are clear enough from the video.

Halftime ends and both teams huddle up; Karin sets her pencil down and adjusts the focus on her camera.

* * *

The forums explode that night, after Enma wins the fall college tournament to move onto the Rice Bowl.

Hiruma's still sore from the loss so monitoring the comments is irritating at best and excruciating at worst, but there's a part of him that's happy for the Fires- Kurita and Sena and Monta especially. The rest of him wonders if Unsui had saved a trick play up for four years only to pull it out in the final 20 seconds of his game against the Wizards, to use when the Fires are at their strongest.

The other quarterback had never relied on trick plays, not even once- it had been beyond the scope of Hiruma's calculations that he'd use one for the most crucial offense of his football career. (He's not sure _why_it had come as such a huge surprise; Unsui is after all Agon's brother and while the younger twin likes his instant, vicious gratification, Unsui's brutality is the stealthy, patient kind, and he'd known this about the two of them since middle school.)

Hiruma knows the Fires are out celebrating, but out of habit, Unsui never loses track of his phone so he texts him anyway.

「you magnificent fucking bastard.」

It's high praise from Hiruma Yoichi and Unsui smiles mildly around a mouthful of rice to text him back.

「the whole play relied on deimon's aces, you should be proud.」

「for five years, you cut down your options just for me?」

「i started planning for this our second year of high school.」

Five years of not playing a single hand that could even hint at a less-than-completely-straightforward offense- Hiruma wouldn't have had the patience for that (the Wizards are the last team in the world to need trick plays, but Hiruma calls them every once in a while anyway; he needs to get rid of these Urges _somehow_).

Everyone had been under the impression that Unsui just never kicked his Shinryuuji habit of pressing forward only on the strength and skill of the players with properly by-the-books strategy, shaping each attack to maximize their success, which worked well with the burning, hyper-offensive Fires.

But as a ploy to make Hiruma believe that there was no way he would rely on something as risky as a fake handoff, staying carefully behind Kurita and Mizumachi to throw off Agon's Godspeed Impulse while Monta set up for a long pass, guarded by Sena and Riku, just as time ran out- he had to build that, slowly, because Hiruma's database is about as comprehensive as any on earth when it comes to analyzing the college and X-leagues.

This kind of waiting goes beyond the realm of patience and common sense and Hiruma's loudest thought is, _Exactly how many games did that fucking monk let slip away for the sake of getting to this Rice Bowl?_

It was essentially a simple play. Enough to tie the game but Kotaro's kicks had only improved since high school and he scored the winning point with no time left on the clock. Classic Unsui insurance; he learned (painfully) a long time ago not to leave an opponent even a few seconds of slack. It's rare that a maneuver in American football goes off without a single hitch and Hiruma's nearly convinced that the one-point difference at the end was intentional too. Just to rub it in.

「do you dream about this, you fucking monk」

「every night.」

「well now your fucking twin only wants to do the dragonfly with me to take you down」

「honestly, i'm a little jealous but winning against the wizards was fine too.」

Hiruma's never considered himself petty, but he'll take what he can get. Besides, Unsui's in high spirits and probably at least a little tipsy if Mizumachi and Kotaro have anything to say about their celebration- he doesn't usually play along with the texts.

「change your mind about going pro? i'll make beating you down there feel good, promise」

(Unsui thinks vaguely that Agon's started to rub off on Hiruma too, if he's started calling people masochists.)

「no, this was my last game against you. it's not you, it's me?」

「you're a cruel bastard」

「yeah, it's selfish.」

「i'm gonna tell koizumi you dream about me」

「go ahead. i'll tell her you propositioned me.」

"Nha, Unsui!" Mizumachi stacks a small tower of meat onto his plate, tops off his glass and then jabs him lightly in the ribs, trying to look over his shoulder, "You should be smiling! It was a great game! Drink up! Ace quarterback of the Enma Fires, come on!"

Unsui quickly dims the screen and hides his phone under the table, imagining Hiruma cackling on the other end. "No, well..."

Monta grins around a glass of water and points at his phone. "It's Hiruma-senpai, isn't it? You only get that look on your face when it's him." A beat, then, "Was there an update?"

Sena looks up at the same time Kurita does, but it's Kurita who asks, "Is he okay?"

"Just telling me to congratulate you all. And that he'll cover dinner."

Kotaro abruptly stops eating. "Hey now Unsui, are you sure that's smart? I bet it's poisoned now."

"There's nothing to worry about," Riku says, a fellow rock in this sea of chaos as he reaches for another piece of meat, "Hiruma-san isn't a sore loser."

"Riku, don't you get it?" Kotaro asks, "He's not playing college football anymore once he graduates, so if he poisons us seniors, then it's not really sore losing. He wouldn't ruin _your_chances like that. You gotta be smart about these things!"

"You-nii's a demon but he isn't a monster, you still have to play Musashan," Suzuna interjects, "right? Besides Kotarin's only ever right about kicks and even then..."

「come out for yakiniku, you know where we are. it's your treat anyway.」

「i'll bring the team. your fucking twin's already on his way」

「justw alked in ill talk ot you later」

Hiruma doesn't bother responding- that last rushed text signaling Agon's arrival means Unsui's going to be Really Preoccupied trying to control his twin and make sure his team actually gets food. Agon ran the gamut of emotions from neutrality to seething rage in the course of two hours, so it's bound to be a trying experience. Hiruma calls the rest of his team and forwards the conversation to Karin instead.

The Wizards arrive (Sanzo and Karin in tow) to the sight of Unsui in a merciless headlock and loud proclamations of _If you let that gorilla trash smash you, I'll fucking kill you_ and _That better not be the extent of your shitty plays, Unko-chan_ and _You and your trash team better not fuck this up_, as if Agon can't decide whether he wants to be proud of his brother or pissed off at him so he's just decided to be both.

The rest of the Fires, who all look as if they want to step in on their captain's behalf but don't want to cross into Agon's range (and who're taking this time to stock up on meat that Agon would have otherwise claimed), let out a cheer when Hiruma steps into the restaurant- a bunch of them were former Devilbats, after all.

Sanzo has Karin's arm in a deathgrip, and he leans over as they sit down to whisper in her ear, "We're really going to owe Hiruma-kun for this."

* * *

Hours later, when most of both teams have trickled out and the only ones left are Ikkyu, Agon, Sanzo and Unsui (the rest of the SaiRo trio plus Mamori are still at another table), Ikkyu breaks the silence with, "Wow, the four of us... it's the Nagas back together again! Oni brings back memories, doesn't it?"

"Aa, too bad only two of us are on a team worth anything," Agon drawls, as if the Wizards hadn't _just_lost the second-most important football match of the season.

Unsui's pretty sure he's drunk; the room seems to be listing to one side and his movements feel slow. It was just that even after Kotaro and Mizumachi had left, _Agon_ had started topping his glass off and he's not nearly as easy to refuse as any of the Fires. But Unsui's not blaming the alcohol for his sudden flash of bravado (he'll blame the high from winning) when he quips, "Right, the Painters and Fires _are_pretty great."

Sanzo swells with pride at the mention (though Enma had been the one to beat his team down in the preliminaries, he's not going to hold winning against Unsui-kun, that would just be petty.)

"AAH?! Where's my spoon? I need to throw it at your face, Unko."

"Agon-san, do you really have to provoke him? Unsui-san is oni mean today for some reason."

"Ah, sorry," Unsui replies, reaching over the table to ruffle Ikkyu's hair, "it was just a joke."

"Good, Unsui-san, because we definitely beat you the other three years running." Ikkyu beams back, kicks his feet and then leans forward with his arms on the table. "Monta's gotten better too, I don't know why you don't rely on him more."

"That monkey trash wouldn't be able to compete if he had to run against you the whole game," and this time it's Agon who cuts in, turning a sneer in Unsui's direction, then elbowing Ikkyu hard in the side. "But wanting to crush him properly isn't so bad for you, either."

"Too many confrontations against the best cornerback in Japan wouldn't have turned out well for us," Unsui confirms, and if Ikkyu didn't know the other boy so well (wait, they're old enough to drink now so that makes them men, right? It's hard to believe), he would've pinned that tone somewhere between cheeky and admiring, but this is Unsui-san so cheekiness is impossible. "Sorry, Ikkyu, I know you wanted to fight him more."

Agon leans back, arms tossed over the back of his bench, relaxing the way a sated lion does when it watches an antelope graze (so, brain or heart for dinner?). "Hohh, when did Unko get to be such a sweet talker?"

"Careful, Unsui-san, I think you're making Agon-san jealous-" Ikkyu cuts off abruptly to escape a chop to the side of his head, ducking into the aisle between tables and grinning at Unsui. "Say something oni nice about him too!"

Sanzo buries his face in Unsui's shoulder and tries to stifle his laughter. Then he looks up, across the dining area to catch Suzuna's eye from where she's sitting with Karin and Mamori.

Suzuna mimes a cheer, then flashes him two thumbs up. And a kissy face. And then she points at Unsui.

* * *

"Kid is a great quarterback, so I'll be depending on the rest of you for this game," Unsui says in their pre-game huddle. "I'll leave Gaoh to Kurita; Mizumachi-"

"Yeah, yeah, I got Onihei. No problem."

Chuboh's hand shoots into the air. "I'd like to try taking on Kuroki-senpai and Togano-senpai, please! And if it's possible, I want to fight Gaoh-senpai, too."

"That's fine." Unsui nods in his direction and adds, "Hold them off for as long as you can. We'll switch up our defense in the second half, so you'll get your chance." A deep breath, then, "This is the game we've all been waiting for. Whether we win or lose- it's thanks to everyone on this team that we made it this far. I'm going to make some calls you won't like, but-"

Sena, uncharacteristically, interrupts with a confident, "We trust you, Unsui-san."

"Champions MAX!"

Riku slaps him lightly on the shoulder with one gloved hand, then turns a stern look on the rest of the team. "It's too soon to start thinking about losing, Unsui-san. Whatever the play, we'll run it."

"Hey, Unsui, we've got us some pretty smart juniors, huh?"

Kurita's eyes begin to well up and he manages a choked, "Everyone... you all-" before Mizumachi cuts in with, "The clock's about to start! Hurry it up, Unsui!"

"Our first offense is the Dragon Fly." Unsui extends his hand first, expression serious as the rest of the team covers it with theirs. "Three," he says, looking around the circle, meeting everyone's eyes, "two..."

The weight of Kotaro's hand presses down as he yells, "This is the last time for us seniors, so you better scream your lungs out or it's just not smart, okay?! ONE!"

_**"WE'LL BURN 'EM TO ASHES!"**_

* * *

'Discussion Games Rice Bowl [Fires v. Babels]'

OKA「i thought 02 was going to kill someone when the wizards lost last time but did anyone see his face throughout this game?」

dragonfly「he's obviously happy for his oniichan... did you see him jump onto the field at the end?! though i'm sad for 11...」

CheerStar2012「2012 hug! 3312 too... nagas are the cutest after all... o(≧∇≦)o ah, but 21's combo play with 80 for the last touchdown was also great!」

sPaDe「I'm a Wizards fan but I'm glad Enma won anyway... 77's the only one of the trio who hasn't won a RB.」

DONNIE 「There better not be any sappy shit in this update. I don't mind it normally but the games would be better if they were just sports.」

Joe 「i like the games too but it's really not up to us... whatever the author decides is okay with me! (｀_´)ゞ」

DONNIE 「Shut up and stop kissing her ass already. That first play better not get skipped, either. The DRAGON FLY? On the first offense? Has 12 even run this with 21 before or has he just lost his mind.」

OKA 「whoa boys, calm down. we're supposed to be a community. now is it just me or has sairo been turning into Everyone Has A Crush On Unsuikun lately? is this supposed to be a reflection of rl? it's hard to tell sometimes」

dragonfly「i don't know about you guys, but i've had a crush on unsuikun since that postgame interview last year. he was so proud of agonkun but suffering in silence is my weakness too...!」

OKA「i still like agonkun best... but since he likes unsuikun so much, i do too.」

* * *

Two victory parties in a row is excessive, in Unsui's opinion, but he has no intention of getting in the way of his team's celebration (in fact, he's decided to stay mostly clear of it- the first hangover was bad enough).

Both a good chunk of Wizards and most of the Babels show up sometime in the evening, no doubt called out by Kurita, so Unsui waits for Agon on a bench outside the restaurant as the party winds down. He bows out not long after Hiruma, Musashi and Kurita leave together, taking some time to try and digest before he reaches the point where he has to run an extra hour the morning after to make up for all the food they managed to scarf down.

"Yo."

"Are you feeling okay?"

"No, I'm so drunk I need you to fucking carry me home. C'mon, be a good big brother."

Unsui stands up, dusts off the seat of his jeans and hooks his thumbs into his belt loops, cocking his head to the side in the direction of their apartment. "Going out?"

Agon gives him a long, considering look, pulls his phone out of his pocket, checks the time and his messages, then snorts. "No fucking point."

"What, you're already tired of karaoke?"

Agon pops the collar on his jacket, adjusts it on his shoulders and then crams his hands into his pockets. "Where's the fun in karaoke with that sausagefest, idiot?"

"I don't know, but I did get a recording of Hiruma singing Queen. It might come in handy."

"Looks like I'm not the only one that trash has rubbed off on," he says with a smirk

"I think you have it worse than I do." His occasional lapses in diplomacy are reserved only for his twin and Unsui mutters under his breath (though loudly enough for Agon to hear), "So I should probably just be glad you haven't started bringing home guns."

"Don't need guns to take out the trash."

"You never take out the trash."

"I take out the only trash worth taking out, Unko."

"Just not the trash we actually _need_taken out."

Dismissive, because Agon can afford to be about things like this: "Last one to make it to the pros gets to take out the boring trash for the rest of his life then, aah. C'mon, egghead, unless you're scared."

"Aah, that doesn't work for me, idiot." It sounds like an offhand comment but Unsui's been reinforcing these walls since middle school, when he started this game. Laying down bricks of 'I'll enjoy it while it lasts' and 'I'll have to grow up eventually' and 'I have five more years' (now four, now three, now one, two months, a week, one more match) in even, solid rows, steadfastly building a dam for the day he finally says, "My football career ends here."

Agon would be lying if he said he didn't see this coming; Kongo Agon is a genius, and he knows his brother, but something about the last couple years, about playing football with Unsui in high school and against him in college, about finally sharing a hobby with his twin instead of claiming it from him, had convinced him things might happen differently from the trajectory he'd predicted. He stares for a long second at Unsui's squared back, the fists clenched at his sides and he drawls, "Aah? Unko doesn't want to play football anymore?"

"No," Unsui says in a rush, voice uneven, as if he's trying to choke the words back but can't quite manage it, never really could around Agon, "I want to play football more than anything."

"So play," Agon says, as if it's really that easy (for him, it is), as if it's his godgiven right to beat his brother down on the field as many times as he needs to to drive home the fact that he's the best, that he's invincible. "You can't just beat me once and then peace out, that's not how it fucking _works_. You don't win if you give up."

"Sorry."

"Bzzt, hey, Unko-chan." He can't even hide the irritation in his voice anymore, not that he's ever tried to. "The right answer was 'Okay, I'll stop being a fucking coward, you're right as always, Agon'."

"It's nothing like that," comes the reply, in that tired tone Unsui uses when he thinks Agon's taking things personally for no reason, like he thinks his twin can't see the way he pulls his hands in front of him and folds his arms over his chest in some lame attempt to ease the tension in his shoulders, "I know my chances. This isn't about you."

He has a few job offers lined up already. The corrupt, greedy finance sector is in dire need of more lawyers and they're not above polishing a recent grad for an eventual position- Unsui has always gravitated to empty spaces waiting to be filled. There are professors pushing him to get a masters and maybe a teaching certification for the meantime; the football team had held onto consistently high grades for a reason, and the reason goes by Kongo Unsui. His future looks bright but things like football have to move aside for reality. It's not as if he'd made a big secret of interviews and applications in front of Agon.

There's a long silence, which never means much, and Unsui assumes his brother's already turned around and walked away so he says out of habit, "I'll see you at home," without looking over his shoulder.

"You idiot," a breath with Agon's voice murmurs so close to his ear Unsui almost jumps out of his own skin, and he probably would have if a pair of arms didn't wrap themselves over his shoulders and pin his back against a solid chest, "how did I end up with such a fucking masochist for a brother."

"Agon." There are cracks in his wall, jagged edges from one corner to another, laughing in the face of his composure, and how Agon managed to put them there so quickly would be a surprise to Unsui if he weren't so used to it. Even in his rare acts of kindness, his brother only knows how to be cruel and Unsui's known that since _forever_. "Let me go."

"If you were more like that trash," Agon says, but he never finishes the sentence, never specifies which player he's talking about (though Unsui can take a few educated guesses).

"Agon, please."

Agon's stronger, always has been, and he doesn't let go. He's never liked to see Unsui break, but he's not compassionate enough to let his walls stay standing, either (they're annoying). He knows the sound of Unsui losing his last shred of defiance, the look of his carefully-constructed barriers crumbling under a torrent of unstoppable force. "Always making everything so goddamn hard for yourself, you fucking M."

The _So shut up_is only implied.

Their breaths synchronize automatically, because Agon's grip leaves no slack. Unsui exhales on his inhale, effortlessly matching their rhythms, adapting to his brother as always. "I wanted to keep playing with you," he says after a long, painful silence (Agon pretends that he doesn't feel the splashes of warmth on his forearm), "and against you, and I wanted to keep standing on the field with you."

Agon's breath is hot where it washes over the back of his neck, above the collar of his jacket. "What's stopping you, idiot?"

A long exhale, decisive and final, as if Unsui's expelling his resignation and casting around for something else to hold onto (which is still annoying but not nearly as fucking irritating as pretending he's alright). Unsui ducks the question the best way he knows, tone dry. "Your character's slipping, Agon. Keep this up and I'll have to start finding an anniversary present for you and Hiruma."

It's only fair, that Unsui occasionally gets to toss a SaiRo reference at Agon instead of being on the receiving end all the time, but Agon doesn't have to fucking like it. He does, however, have an absolute lack of personal boundaries so his hand descends to Unsui's belt loop and he pulls him flush against his own body, voice back to its usual mocking, sarcastic drawl. "It's out of character for me to comfort my onii-chan? Answer the fucking question, Unko."

"It's- I mean- first of all, yes. Stop messing around." Unsui shifts uncomfortably, tries unsuccessfully to turn his head and then sighs. He keeps his voice carefully neutral when he says, "It's... been fun- you know. But we're graduating. It's about time for me to wake up."

"You're saying I'm in your dreams, aah?" Agon's expression is a warped mirror of the crumbling half-smile on Unsui's face, a wry scowl buried in his brother's shoulder as he mutters, "That's gross, Unko."

"You're one to talk," Unsui snaps back, ducking out of Agon's grip and wiping his face before hooking his thumbs in his belt loops and turning to look at him, dry-eyed, "you get to call me gross when you stop leaving your sweaty jerseys on my bed, idiot."

"How else am I supposed to get them clean, egghead?" He punctuates the question with a hand to the top of Unsui's head, grinding his palm against the stubble.

"Why don't you ask the scouts? They're still calling."

"Yeah, the X-League's got it real bad for me. Smalltime trash."

Unsui starts walking, but he looks over his shoulder and then straight ahead, down the sidewalk, shaking his head. "You're aiming for the NFL and you call _me_a masochist."

Agon snorts, scuffs his sneakers on the concrete and then plows hard into Unsui's back, throwing one arm over his neck and grinding the knuckles of his other hand into his scalp, hauling him bodily down the street. "Hey, _you're_the one who's gonna be taking out the trash forever, Unko."

* * *

From around the corner, Sanzo stifles a pained whimper into his shirt, where he's pulled the collar up over his nose and mouth, clenched in his fists. "Unsui-kun... even his crying face is perfect... the twins practically write themselves..."

"Shh, San-chan!" Suzuna tugs on Sanzo's sleeve, then looks imploringly at Mamori, who only offers a small smile. "If they hear us, we're really gonna be in trouble."

"This wasn't something we should have seen," Karin says, but then adds with a sheepish smile, "Sorry, I just always wanted to say that. I think Agon-san would actually murder us if we put this online, though."

"Uu-nii would be really upset too. He's usually nice about SaiRo..."

"I can't believe he's done with football," Mamori says, "Hiruma-kun sounded like he was exaggerating."

Suzuna elbows Sanzo hard on the arm and then points down the street. "San-chan, now's your chance to go comfort him!"

Sanzo sighs, hands on his chin and murmurs, "This is more of an A-Un moment, isn't it? I shouldn't interrupt. After all, you never know what Agon-kun would do to comfort his onii-chan, ah..."

* * *

SaiRo ends when Hiruma and Agon graduate; it survives things like a server crash and a hacker attack and it changes and evolves with both its writers and subjects. Karin uses its archives to (successfully) apply for apprenticeship with one of her favorite artists and Sanzo uses it to (also successfully) apply for a masters writing program at his university. Dedication and consistency over two and a half years is a trait employers and schools really like to see, as it turns out. The subject matter is secondary to the quality and quantity of the writing and art.

They've carefully avoided making any mention of the college league players' plans for after they've graduated- though a bunch of them are headed for a fairly public lifestyle in the pros anyway. The news media has stayed mostly ignorant of SaiRo (Riko likes to keep her hobbies to herself, though she does use her SR connections to report on actual stories.)

Riku takes over as captain of the Fires. The hand-off was Enma's farewell to Saikyo Romance, a touching moment between quarterback and safety where Unsui asked him to take good care of the team, and Yamato becomes captain for the Wizards, another calculated move on Hiruma's part.

There are collections, there's plenty of fanmade merchandise, prints and posters and booklets. SaiRo is popular and Eyeshield even moreso. Karin throws herself into her work and Sanzo has to focus on school now, but a few days after the semester begins, when the monotony of life starts getting to her, Karin checks her phone and dives for her sketchbook and pencil.

「ace attorney kongo unsui? (｡･｀ω´･｡)」


End file.
